Learn How to Calculate Your Company's Overhead Costs and Break Even Point

Learn How to Calculate Your Company's Overhead Costs and Break Even Point Copyright © 2005 Travis Reynolds My Overhead http://www.myoverhead.com







Starting up any business is tough. Starting up and being

profitable is even tougher. While you may have the best idea or

service imaginable – the "best thing since sliced bread" – so

many factors weigh into the success of a company, some of the

greatest inventions never take flight.



If you would like more information about starting a business

visit http://www.sba.gov There are startup tools, checklists,

downloadable loan documents, and other resources to help start a

business.



One of the main factors is managing the business itself.

Operational procedures are just as important as the product, and

uninformed business decisions can lead to disaster. The fact is,

many entrepreneurs are unaware of the total cost for running a

business – they don't know how to factor their company's

overhead.



Enter MyOverhead.com, a web-based program that allows companies

to instantly calculate their overhead costs (rent, utilities,

equipment, insurance and even employee salaries and health

benefits). To begin, a company enters all pertinent information

into the system, and the initial calculation gives the exact

overhead and burden costs, not an estimated guess. From this

point, the company knows their overhead, and can now make many

business decisions based on this number. When something changes,

such as new equipment or hiring an employee, a company can

quickly update those fields, and immediately calculate the new

overhead.



"This is an invaluable tool to figure out our financial status,"

said one Akron, Ohio, office manager. "In a nutshell, the

program tells you exactly how much money you need to bring in to

cover your costs."



When prices change, such as an increase in supplies or payroll,

a company can quickly update those fields, and immediately

calculate the new overhead cost. The program is created to adapt

to any situation or business type.



The system is created with a template listing pre-determined

items that are classified as overhead, such as: advertising,

insurance, office supplies and rent. There is also a separate

listing for items that fall under the burden category, such as

labor expenses and health benefits. If there is an expense

specific to a particular business that does not exist in the

program, users can create new entries.



Companies can also use the MyOverhead.com program as a consultant

to make well-informed business decisions. For instance, if you

want to hire an employee or buy new computer equipment, the cost

can be entered into the system to see how it will affect overhead

and/or burden.



"MyOverhead.com will benefit virtually any business," said Mark

Lallemand, spokesperson for MyOverhead Corporation. "No matter

what the industry, this program will establish the correct

selling price for a company's service or product, which will

include all their cost of doing business. The MyOverhead.com

service is easy-to-use and requires basic computer knowledge."



Lallemand said companies need to ask themselves some basic yet

crucial questions about their business's financial standing: Do

you know how to apply your company's overhead to make your

business successful and profitable? Do you know that your

company's overhead is constantly changing? Do you realize what

your "break-even" cost is for your business to stay afloat? "If

you are uncertain of the answers, you're not maximizing the

potential of your profits especially in start-up businesses,

which is why so many of them fail in the first year. When you

think you know your overhead, but aren't close to the correct

number, you have a false sense of profit," Lallemand added.



"Before using MyOverhead.com, we thought we knew how much it

costs to run our day-to-day operation, " said one Iowa-based

business owner. "It didn't take long to realize just how wrong we

were.



"An effective manager has to know where a company's finances

stand at all times. The MyOverhead.com system does just that,

even when individual business costs change," he said. "We not

only increased our bottom line as a result, but the confidence

it gave our company allowed us to bid and take-on larger

projects. Instead of bidding against other companies, we bid as

low as we can and still know we can make a profit," he added.

"This is important because it lets us know our bid numbers are

not just competitive, but profitable and practical."



In this case, once a "break-even" figure has been established

MyOverhead.com can be used to test potential outcomes of a

business decision such as a bid on an electrical job. Then the

company knows how differently the job will lay out with time

constraints and workload. Also, it will tell you if it's

beneficial for your business to compete with other companies'

numbers on a particular bid.



"Once we receive a job, we don't have to be worried about the

numbers, and every expense, because we have confidence in our

bid. Now our job managers can better supervise and complete the

job at hand," added the Iowa business owner. "Also, we're able

to maintain a high level of quality in our jobs, where we may

have otherwise taken shortcuts because we lacked confidence in

the bid. When jobs are done with quality, clients are happy,

and we keep getting work."



"For many companies, this will help bring their office up to

speed. The system is self-contained, and requires no outside

tools beyond a computer. Plus, the MyOverhead.com staff provides

a high level of customer service. Any time we have a question or

need help, the MyOverhead.com staff has been there for us," the

Iowa business owner said. "They have been friendly since the very

beginning, and it truly feels they've structured their business

to specifically help you be successful."



One company in Cincinnati, Ohio, has benefited so much by the

MyOverhead.com calculating system that they see it not as an

outside contracted service, but as a member of their team. "It

has made our company take a hard look at how we compile

information in regard to overhead," he said.



MyOverhead.com contains other helpful tools to aid companies on

various business decisions. For instance, there are reports that

not only summarize current overhead, but also history reports,

which are very useful for long-term comparison of the status of

your business. There is a burden calculator to help evaluate

payroll and employee status by creating reports concerning all

wages and benefits for active and inactive workers. The

MyOverhead.com calculating system can virtually create any

detailed overhead report summarizing items that are of major

concern or interest to your business.



In addition, there are a number of calculators: a separate

"break even" calculator to help project minimum work volume

requirements; a future projection calculator to explore every

aspect of overhead scenario, present and future; a profit

multiplier which gives the proper figure to multiply by for any

given percentage of mark up; and a project completion calculator

for the number of workers and days necessary to complete a

specific project.







---------------------------------------------------------------------

The MyOverhead.com service is as low as $39.95 per month.

For more information about this risk free offer and to see what

this product can do for you, visit http://www.myoverhead.com,

email mailto:customerservice@myoverhead.com,

or call (330) 633-6031.